30 January, 2010. Snow
shoot, Kalamazoo, MI. Our newest members Fred and Caleb Chapman
braved the cold temperatures to attended this event and did themselves
proud with Caleb bringing home the High Junior Shooter trophy (see the
photo on the photos page). Though Fred experienced an equipment problem
he said he enjoyed the event as well. In attendance were: Fred
and Caleb Chapman.

27 March, 2010. Delay the
Inevitable, Ft Custer, MI. Near perfect weather greeted us for
this Reto event put on by Alan Miltich and his unit. It was a long day
of near continuous action. We started of on a long combat patrol where
we engaged a large number of Germans, before being over run. We
finished the day by successfully holding off numerous attacks against
our CP. In attendance were: Rob and Mike Wall, Fred and Caleb Chapman,
Matt and Dan Ziemer, George Bailey and Paul Garrett.

1-2 May, 2010. Lowell, IN.
Though we had only four members attending, this was another successful
event. We arrived early afternoon on Friday, 30 April and set up camp
in our assigned location which was prime for meeting the veterans and
public as they passed by. We were also fortunate enough to be camped
directly accross from Bill Sheets' unit of the 505th PIR of the 82nd
Airborne Division. We participated in the large public battles and met
many friendly and interesting people. Of note were two 45th Infantry
Division veterans of WWII as well as one from the 9th I.D. We
also enjoyed meeting a number of reenactors from the 10th Mountain
Division and look forward to joining them in Union, IL at the Anzio
Express event in a few weeks' time. In attendance were: Keith
Bonney, Rob Wall, John Baumer, and Paul Garrett.

28-31 May, 2010. Anzio
Express, Union IL. This was a great event! The
Illinois
Railway Museum is a very interesting and unique venue for an event. The
grounds are quite large and there were multiple battle sites. Riding
the trains and trolleys was a lot of fun and the dance featured a very
good swing band with some great vocalists. We had a nice tent
location that had shade from the hot sun we experienced all weekend.
Our participation included doing "Cassino" skirmish battles for the
"Tour of Italy." We staged short battles each time one of the "Tour"
trolleys came along. A British reenactor boarded the trolley to give
the passengers a little history and then we went into action. With us
for these skirmishes were the Polish unit and a squad from the 34th ID.
We also took part in the "Platte River Canteen" reenactment in which
Mike Wall got act out a tearful good-bye with his "sweetheart" at the
station. We all dressed in our class B uniforms and rode in Pullman
cars. Another highlight was spending more time with our friends from
the 10th Mountain Division, who we met at Lowell this year. This was
our first Mediterranean Theater specific event and was a great
opportunity for our 45th ID unit to show our stuff. In attendance were:
Keith Bonney, Rob and Mike Wall, John Baumer, and Paul Garrett.

25-27 June, 2010. Battle
for Caen, Billie Creek Village, Rockville IN. Our first time
down for this event. Billie Creek Village is in a beautiful part of
Indiana, about an hour's drive west of Indianapolis. The battles took
place in the village itself. The spectators were in the middle of
village, the Germans defended and the Allies attacked, so the crowd got
to see battles on all sides. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the
battles. We met a lot of new friends as well as seeing a few old ones.
We camped next to our friends of the 10th Mountain Division and enjoyed
that quite a lot. In attendance were: Rob and Mike Wall, Matt and Dan
Ziemer, and Paul Garrett. Photos

23-25 July, 2010. WWII and
Veterans Weekend, St Clair Shores, MI. Though the rain at
times made us question whether we really wanted to do this one, this
event was a lot of fun. We met a lot of people who braved the weather
on Saturday and even more who took advantage of the good weather on
Sunday. We took part in all three beach landings. Twice from the
Higgins boat on saturday and once from the DUKW on Sunday. The battles
went well and the spectators seemed to really enjoy them. We got to
spend time with friends from last year as well as make new ones and the
event organizers fed us well (Steak and corn on the cob for Saturday
night supper). A fun event with great spectators and one we look
forward to attending next year. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob
Wall, John Baumer, Lance Aldritch, Matt and Dan Ziemer, and Paul
Garrett. Photos

6-8 August, 2010. Thunder
Over Michigan, Willow Run Airport, Belleville, MI. We had our
largest member turnout for this event with 15, including our unit
photographer. As always, the airshow is a special event due to the
large number of vintage aircraft, some of which took part in the battle
reenactments. There were seven operational B-17s, a B-24, and a couple
of P-51s that flew over field of battle to "bomb" and "strafe"
the German positions. The P-51 "Old Crow" buzzed the field in numerous
passes, each lower than the previous one so that it looked as if his
wingtips would brush the grass. There were four battles, two each day,
and reenactor turnout was fairly high on both sides. Our campsite was
moved from the previous location to a more central and visible one
alongside the road to the main gate to the airport. We were nearly
overrun with spectators and hardly had a moments to spare from early
morning to the close of the show each day. On Friday's Thunder Run we
rode (as we did last year) with the Dumas family in their 2 1/2 ton
truck. We camped next to our friends of the 10th Mountain Division once
again (something of a tradition now) and enjoyed visits from friends
and family as well. This was a great event and we are looking forward
to next year. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, Rob and Mike Wall, John
Baumer, Lance Aldritch, Fred, Caleb, and Silas Chapman, Matt and
Dan Ziemer, Mike Lezotte, Joe Szomolai, Jeffrey Adams, photographer
Lynda Grinnell, and Paul Garrett.Photos

24-26
September, 2010. WWII Days, Rockford, IL. This event was even
better than last year. We had perfect weather for the event, got to
take part in a USMC vs. IJA woods battle, met a lot of nice and
interesting people, and spent quality time with friends around the camp
fire. We had seven members of the unit attending, three of whom were
first timers. This may have been the largest turnout for this event and
there were a lot of interesting vehicles to see. The dance on Saturday
night was in a new wing of the museum that provided more area than the
old room, but it was still pretty crowded - a sign of how popular
the swing dance is. Even if you don't dance, its great to see the
uniforms and period clothing. In attendance were: Keith Bonney, John
Baumer, Matt and Dan Ziemer, Mike Lezotte, Joe Szomolyai, and Paul
Garrett.Photos11
December, 2010. Operation Nordwind, Onstead, MI. Another
tactical on Fred Bahlau's property at the old Stage Coach Stop. The
weather was great - not too hot and not too cold. The battles were
nicely varied and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. Dan carried the
M1919A6 all day and did a lot of shooting. We tried to ambush the enemy
in a similar fashion to their ambush of us last year, but we were
forced to pull back because of German artillery. This is a good
event, close to home and one in which we will surely attend in the
future. In attendance were: Rob Wall, Matt and Dan Ziemer, Mike
Lezotte, Joe Szomolyai and Paul Garrett.Photos